Poll support for Hamas attacks is worrying for Gaza peace prospects

A poll by the independent Ramallah-based Palestinian Centre for Policy and Survey Research on the post Operation Protective Edge found 68% of Gaza’s occupants supported last summer’s ‘Hamas rocket attacks’.

The data was collected on August 26-30 last year, and reveals the mindset of the ‘ordinary’ Palestinian, which indicates Hamas’s military action was backed by a critical mass, with 48% supporting an armed intifada.

Most worryingly from Israel’s perspective, 28% of those surveyed believed the long-term goal of the Palestinian Authority, ‘was to conquer all of Israel and kill most of the Jews’.

A further 56% said ‘they supported Hamas’s armed struggle into Judea and Samaria’, while 62% said they were not content with the outcome, indicating a majority would support a renewal of the conflict.

This data suggests Hamas was the recipient of a substantial mandate for its military campaign and indicates why Mahmoud Abbas has not sanctioned elections for over a decade. If this survey was replicated in an election, 61% would vote for former Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniyeh, while just 32% would vote for Abbas.

This reinforces the argument that much of Abbas’s posturing on the international stage has been an attempt to regain authority in Gaza, and remain relevant to the ‘ordinary’ Palestinian.

This should be worrying to all proponents of a two-state solution, if Hamas was to usurp the Palestinian Authority, any realistic prospect of peace would surely recede.

Dr Kevin McCarthy

Kinsale

Co Cork